Monthly Archives: February 2020

New Zealand revisited

February 19, 2020Lake Tekapo, lakes, Landscape, landscape, mountains, New Zealand, Queesntown, river/creeks, South Island, Southern Alpsadmin

Some images from The Doc’s New Zealand trip. Well known locations but from some different angles, like Queenstown, the blue lakes at St Bathans, Moeraki Boulders and the Southern Alps. Click on the images to see the sideshow at full size.

West MacDonnell Ranges – The Red Centre

February 14, 2020Alice Springs, Australia, bark, clouds, desert, Landscape, NT, reptiles, sand, States, Textures, The Red Centreadmin

It took some time but The Doc has finished his Guide on the West MacDonnell Ranges. The Guide starts and finishes at Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. The Guide is here.

You can then do the East MacDonnell Ranges, that Guide is here.

The Guide on the West MacDonnell Ranges has detailed maps, location notes and images. The number of images meant The Doc had to use high compression and so there are some artefacts in some images. It is a very detailed Guide. You could easily spend 2 or 3 weeks doing the West MacDonnell Ranges and another week doing the East MacDonnell Ranges.

Nissan Patrol Update

February 9, 2020Australia, Nissan Patroladmin

Corrugations over several years have taken their toll on a few items. The Doc is thinking on going to the Kimberley in 2020 and is doing some preventative maintenance and fixing a few things. Changes in February 2020 include:

New sensor for the Autron battery voltage and amp gauge. The “Hall Effect Current Sensor” was shaken to pierces by corrugations and replaced;
The interVOLT EBI Pro died (do not know why, perhaps too many corrugations) and was replaced with a Redarc 1225D DC to DC charger to charge the auxiliary battery;
The auxiliary battery also died (at least it was still under warranty). The Doc can plug a solar panel into the new Redarc charger as well. The Doc is thinking of installing a small solar panel onto the roof rack (EDIT: a 100W solar panel has now been purchased and installed);
The coils (aka springs) were replaced after 140,000 hard kilometres;
Bushes on the front and rear were replaced. It seems the front bushes on the Patrol need to be replaced about every 60,000km. One of the rear bushes was falling out, which is why The Doc asks his mechanic to do checks on the car. The mechanic identified the bush issue which was fixed when the coils were replaced. This way issues get fixed before they become major problems;
Brant Alarm keypad was replaced, it was worn out;
Wiper blades were replaced; and
New wheel alignment – an alignment must be done after bushes are replaced.

Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby

February 5, 2020Arkaroola, Australia, Flinders Ranges, mammals, marsupials, SA, Wildlifeadmin

Digging deep into the The Doc’s secret archives comes a variety of images of Australia’s most beautiful macropod, the Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby. The Doc has posted a few in the past, but none of these images.